Aaaah .... I get it now.
In the seven years or so that I have been photographing cutting events one question has always come to mind .... why? You spend thousands of dollars, sometimes ten of thousands of dollars on a horse, then thousands of dollars on it's training. Then you drive for hours to the nearest event once or twice a month, paying fuel, entry fees etc etc. All that money time and effort for ten minutes competition MAX! Why?

Well the other day I found out the answer. Cutting horse owner Alan Hunter and Trainer Dean Rogan kindly invited me out to Deans place near Casino to have a cutting lesson. Dean has been cutting for 5 years and pro training for a few years now , he learned to break in horses from John Stanton at Macksville at the age of 15, he is now 25. Apparently Dean has ridden since before he could walk and started Camp drafting at the age of 10. He competed at most major drafts and titles in NSW & QLD as a Junior or juvenile and ended up in the top three most years or top five in the other years, without traveling the miles needed to have a shot at a title within the ABCRA. Dean won the ACA NSW Juvenile title and finished third over all in his last year at home. His Camp drafting experience put him on first name basis with most of the top camp draft competitors in both states giving him access to their knowledge.

Dean then Contract mustered for 2 years while riding young horses in the Alfa area before coming home to Casino to start breaking and training for himself.

Of course the name Rogan is no stranger to the Quarter Horse industry. Deans grandfather managed the cattle side of things for Yulgilbar for over thirty years, while his grandmother looked after the horses before they were moved to Melbourne. Deans parents also had a large input in the horse industry in the early times of the Quarter horses managing the Hordern horse stud. So with that kind of background it was only natural that Dean would end up being a trainer.

Dean saddled up one of his turn back horses for me, gave him a quick tune up and then handed me the reins. Deans approach to cutting is quite simple and his teaching abilities are excellent. He was direct and to the point and made it easy for me to pick a couple of things up by keeping it simple. After doing a few stops and turns and working out what to do with the hands and legs it was time to have a go with “the bag”.

Despite being on a turn back horse and following a pretend cow, using the wrong legs and hands going everywhere,I did experience at least one quick 180 degree turn. I must say feeling that horses power under me as he did that turn was just awesome! I can only imagine what the feeling would be like on a competitive cutting horse eyeballing a real cow.

A lot of people say the sport of cutting is addictive and with me having an addictive personality (it took me over twenty five years to give up smoking) it was really a dangerous thing for me to do. On the drive home a familiar feeling came to me that I haven't felt for many years now .... a craving .... and it made me think back. My smoking career started around the same time my father decided to sell off all his Quarter Horses and I started to wonder .... over all those years was it really the cigarette that I was craving for after all?

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